


ARCHIVE 1117-0202

by AshAuditore



Series: Love Free! 2018 [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alien Technology, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Dialogue Heavy, Dialogue-Only, Experimental Style, Gen, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 08:13:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16237643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshAuditore/pseuds/AshAuditore
Summary: A recently made public archive of transcribes from personal video logs of Matsuoka, R. and Tachibana, M. from the doomed expedition of the USCSS Samezuka.(Love Free! 2018 - Day 2)





	ARCHIVE 1117-0202

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for Day 2 of Love Free! 2018 with the prompts "When did everything change?" or "How did they overcome their greatest challenge?" Once again, I decided to combine both into one. 
> 
> With this entry, I had fun with writing it in a rather experimental style (kind of, I think?). I hope that it's okay enough to be registered as a piece of fan-fiction. 
> 
> Also, as mentioned in the tags, the relationship depicted here is platonic. The original draft had a much more romantic tone but I threw it out 'cause later on I decided to steer in a different direction. 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading! You can find me on twitter @kenwaays.

**MATSUOKA, R.**

**JUL-07-2092**

 

Hi, Mom. Hi, Gou. It’s your brother, Rin, recording this just for you guys to see for the very first time. This log should arrive to both of you in about a year or so after HQ’s network picked it up and relayed it. I wish the communication system had been more advanced so we could talk more. But I guess we’d have to make do with what we have, right?

Anyway, I just want you guys to know I’m gonna make us proud. Especially Dad. I know Mom insisted me not going on this expedition ‘cause she was scared I’d ended up like him as a dead man.

I can reassure both of you that there’s nothing to be worried about. I’ve got like, ten more people on this ship including Makoto. Yeah, _that_ Makoto. It’s nice having him here. Feels almost like home. I’m still not used to living on this ship yet but I’m sure I’ll be just fine.

I mean, look at my room here! I have books you guys picked for me. I got a few games I can play on my HoloPad. I got this, this...this weird lookin’ cactus. I’ll name it later.

I gotta go now. Meeting’s about to start and then I’d have sleep for a very very long time. See you guys soon. I love y’all.

Matsuoka, Rin. Signing off.

  
  
— — —

 

**TACHIBANA, M.**

**JUL-07-2092**

 

Hi, mom, dad, Ren & Ran. Makoto here. I just want to leave a little message for you guys before we’re going out of range. This video should arrive to all of you in about a year. By then, me and the crew would have gone so far. We’d still be sleeping, though. Standard cryostasis procedure, you know?

I still can’t believe I’m a part of this journey. Who would’ve thought I would be among the first to explore space far beyond than our solar system. It’s gonna be exciting, that’s for sure. But I gotta confess, I’m a bit scared and worried. You know, like _always_. I have faith in everyone here on the ship, though.

Oh, and, also! Did you guys know Rin is with me on this ship too? Yes, Rin Matsuoka from childhood. But we’re not like, in the same section. He’s in Engineering and I’m in Linguistics. It’s still strange thinking about this. Why would they want a linguistics on board. I guess HQ also hopes we’d might run into a benevolent intelligent life-form. First contact stuff.

Anyway, meeting’s about to start and I’m gonna go into a long long sleep real soon. Ren, Ran — be good kids to mom and dad, okay? Mom...Dad...thank you for supporting me and thank you for everything. Thank you for believing in me. Goodbye, for now!

Tachibana, Makoto. Signing off.

 

* * *

 

**MATSUOKA, R.**

**DEC-12-2109**

 

Hi, everyone. It’s Rin again. The ship’s AI just woke me up for a routine check job. Y’all aren’t gonna believe this but I _puked_ . Like, legit puke. And I thought I was ready for post-cryostasis wake up. Oh boy, I did not, heh! Anyway, I’m gonna eat some more. And by eat I mean, _drinking_ those protein juices. Makes me miss mom’s cooking, hah.

Oh and I got a name for the cactus. It’s _Steve_. Yeah, I know I know it’s the same name as our cat. But hey, this Steve gets to be in space while the other is stuck on Earth.

So, yeah, I don’t know what else to say. I rarely dreamed while I was sleeping, really. Why dream when I’m already living one, right?!

Talk to y’all soon.

Matsuoka, Rin. Signing off.

 

— — —

 

**_MATSUOKA, R. V-LOG — DATE: DEC-13-2109 DATA CORRUPTED_ **

 

— — —

 

**MATSUOKA, R.**

**DEC-30-2109**

 

Rin here. It appears that the video I made for December 13th got damaged for some reasons unknown. I don’t know if I’ll look into it. I’m sorry for not having made logs in a while. I’ve been busy with checking the ship’s systems. They’ve been acting real weird. I gotta tell you...all these routine checks are wearing me down a bit, hah.

It doesn’t help that the AI only wakes one people at a time too. I don’t know why HQ decided on that. Didn’t they have like, psychologists or someone like that? I mean, for God’s sake, the psychologist on board is still in stasis! Unbelievable. We’re not like some skeleton crew, y’know?

I’m just ranting here. It’s just that all of us are so far away from you guys and when you’re the only one who’s awake….that feeling kinda sinks in. I wonder how will the others do when the AI wakes them up as well.

I’m done for today. I’m gonna go to bed soon. You know, back into the icy coffin again, hah!

Matsuoka, Rin. Signing off.

 

* * *

 

**TACHIBANA, M.**

**JAN-01-2110**

 

Hello, everyone. Makoto here. I just want to say a quick Happy New Year to all of you back home! The AI woke me up just in time for this celebration. Too bad I can’t share it with anyone else right now. They’re all sleeping. Apparently, Rin got into stasis like two days ago. I’ll make sure to record everything as much as I can for the others to see. I can’t wait for the day we arrive at our destination. It’s gonna really exciting!

Even though I’m only a linguist, I know how to look after this ship too. I hope I do them proud. Especially Rin. He was the one who made sure the ship was in great condition. And I gotta tell you, Rin’s really good at his job. I’m so gonna thank him one day when we don’t have to take shifts. Bye for now. Happy New Year, everyone!

Tachibana, Makoto. Signing off.

 

— — —

 

**TACHIBANA, M.**

**JAN-04-2110**

 

Hi there. Makoto here, once again. I just wanna tell you about this book I’ve been reading. It’s not really about language or anything like that. It’s _Pale Fire_ by Vladimir Nabokov. Pretty interesting book, really. I’ve been reading and taking notes about it in my personal journal. Also, seems like I’ve arrived at the most famous lines:

  
  
“ _And blood-black nothingness began to spin_

_A system of cells interlinked within_

_Cells interlinked within cells interlinked_

_Within one stem. And dreadfully distinct_

_Against the dark, a tall white fountain played._ ”

 

I guess I have to thank _Blade Runner 2049_ for that. For the record, our 2049 wasn’t a dystopia. During that time, major space agencies around the world began developing what would become the foundations for building this very ship I’m in. Pretty amazing, right? The great things we humankind can do when we hold hands.

My watch is reminding me to for systems check again. I’ll be back soon! Take care, everyone.

Tachibana, Makoto. Signing off.

 

— — —

 

**TACHIBANA, M.**

**JAN-10-2110**

 

Uh, Makoto here. I just want to make this quick log to say something. For the past three days, I’ve been seeing something strange. Like, really strange. I saw my brother and my sister. I wonder if it’s from working? I just took some meds. The other day, I saw Sousuke. Sousuke...it’s so strange seeing him here. I mean, it’s weird and all but like…why did I see him and Ren and Ran. Must be because I’ve been working a lot!  
  
I’ll be sure to get some good rest before working more.

Tachibana, Makoto. Signing off.

 

— — —

 

**TACHIBANA, M.**

**JAN-14-2110**

 

Hey, everyone. It’s Makoto. I’m five days away from my shift being over. I want to state that I’ve not been seeing anything out of place lately. I was probably right it being about work. By the way, I’ve finished _Pale Fire_. If anything, space is really wonderful for reading. But I’d be lying if I said being alone all the time doesn’t affect me. It does. Not like, huge, but it has its affect on me. I’m not a talkative person but it’d be nice to have someone to talk to and not just...myself, you know?

I want to talk to the others. To Rin. I want to tell them about everything that I’ve seen or heard. I’d love to show them Polaroids of the scenery I’ve taken. I gotta conserve some for the day we arrive at our destination.

Hope everyone back home is having a good day!

Tachibana, Makoto. Signing off.

 

— — —

 

**TACHIBANA, M.**

**JAN-19-2110**

 

Today’s the day. I’m going back into statis in seven hours from now. Back to dreaming again. Dreams are nice. Really nice. When I sleep, I usually dream about my hometown. My friends. Sousuke, too. For those that don’t know, Sousuke and I used to be childhood friends. I use the word “used to” because he’s…gone. I don’t want get into too much details. Memories. What a peculiar thing.

That’s it for today. See you guys again when it’s my turn to take care of the shift again!

Tachibana, Makoto. Signing off.

 

* * *

 

**MATSUOKA, R.**

**AUG-26-2110**

 

Rin Matsuoka here. This is not your usual v-log. The ship just woke us up. All of us that were sleeping. Johnson was in charge of the shift. Three hours ago, the ship’s automatic system woke us up. It turns out that the ship detected something. Standard procedure. When it detects something it _thinks_ is worth checking, it wakes everyone up. And so, we checked. We found...something. An object. Actually, we don’t know if it’s actually an object since its size is so huge our computers couldn’t even measure it. What I can tell you — is that it’s pyramid-shaped. Its surface — all black. Monolithic, even.

A flying pyramid. What a way to wake up to.

I’ll be updating more and more as we get more information.

Matsuoka, Rin. Signing off.

 

— — —

 

**MATSUOKA, R.**

**AUG-30-2110**

 

Fuck. I don’t know what to say. I just...don’t. Vice Captain Mitsuha went out of the ship to gather more data via frequency analyser. She was there, right between us and the pyramid. I don’t exactly know what happened. Actually, you know what, I do. She fucking disappeared right in front of us. We were on the Bridge and after this really weird obnoxiously loud static noises, she disappeared. Just like that. The Physicist and the Astronomer are working to find a rational explanation.

I don’t know what to say.

Is this thing hostile to us or what?

I’m signing off.

 

* * *

 

**MATSUOKA, R.**

**OCT-27-2110**

 

Gone. Almost single one of them. Vanished. Disappeared. The Captain tried to boost the speed but it’s almost as if the fucking pyramid is keeping us. I don’t know why it’s doing this. I’m tired. I’m tired of trying to find the answers. And guess what! Our Astronomer is gone. The Physicist is teetering on breaking, which is what’s pretty much happening to us.

Makoto...Makoto’s doing alright. He’s suffering the same thing we’re having. Seems like he’s taking it much better than any of us. I’ll keep an eye on him not to try to come into contact with the pyramid.

I can’t afford to lose anyone else.

Matsuoka, signing off.

 

— — —

 

**TACHIBANA, M.**

**OCT-31-2110**

 

I don’t know why this is happening to us.

I don’t know. I tried every single way of communication, including binary and higher level of Mathematics. Nothing seemed to work. The pyramid never responded to us...but it keeps us here with it. I wonder why. I wonder if it’s worth to wonder why.

At the very least, Rin checks me often. He wants to know if I’m okay. I’m not. None of us is. But we’re gonna try our best to stay alive. We’ve got plenty of food, air and water left since….most of us are gone. I can’t bear the thoughts of eating someone else’s rations. But I have to. We have to.

We’ve not come this far just to die.

Tachibana, Makoto. Signing off — to whoever may be listening.

 

— _FILE RECOVERY STILL IN PROCESS. IN THE MEANTIME, PLEASE READ OTHER LOGS. THANK YOU, FROM YOUR FRIEND AT THE PHOENIX CORP. —_

* * *

 

 

**TACHIBANA, M.**

**JUL-07-2145**

 

Makoto Tachibana reporting. It’s been 35 years since our encounter with the pyramid and 53 years since we’ve begun our journey into the cosmos. We’ve been trapped. The Captain was long gone. The only people still on board this vessel is me and Rin Matsuoka. We were in statis a long time ago. We decided in agreement to set the date for the AI to wake us up at this very exact date.

I can’t be sure if this log is getting sent to the people back home. Prior to our statis session, I was working on a theory about the pyramid. They were useless. Still beats than just doing nothing.

A speck of hope is still in me. Whether or not we get to escape, I’d still try to have hope.

I’m not giving up. No one is.

Tachibana, Makoto. Signing off.

 

— — —

 

**MATSUOKA, R.**

**JUL-21-2145**

 

01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110010 01100101 01101101 01100101 01101101 01100010 01100101 01110010 00100000 01000101 01100001 01110010 01110100 01101000 00101110 00100000

 

* * *

 

**TACHIBANA, M.**

**NOV-12-2145**

 

We’re going out. Me and Rin. We’re going out to meet the pyramid. No work can be done from just analysing it here from the inside. I will try to keep the data transfer online as much as I can. If anyone at HQ can extract the data — do it. Do it without hesitation. Get your best men and women to get to work on it.

I talked to Rin earlier about our situation. We both came to the conclusion that we must face this object with everything we have. All of our efforts and means won’t be used for violence. We will try to communicate with it. One more try. Whether or not we survive, that is another question that we do not care for right now.

We will prevail.

With hope.

Mom, Dad, Ren, Ran and everyone — thank you for everything.

Tachibana, Makoto. Signing off.

 

— — —

 

**MATSUOKA, R.**

**NOV-12-2145**

 

I’m here to make what’s supposed to be my last log. I’ve made bunch of them but a lot of them got corrupted. One of the files turned into binary, hah. Probably a glitch. Anyway, Makoto probably already told you what we’re going to do. I have here with me, Steve. I can’t believe this but Steve still looks good for someone who’s never been in stasis at all. You look great, dude.

So, yeah, we’re doing it. I mean, we’re a good pair to be doing this. Makoto’s good at linguistics. I’m an engineer. One hell of a combination. I’d like to state an official recommendation for Makoto Tachibana. We probably won’t make it back but y’all should promote him anyway. In fact, promote all of us. It’d be nice for our children to read that we went out with dignity and honor.

Makoto’s doing the final prep for equipments. I already did mine. I’m gonna pack some food and water along too. Who knows? Maybe we can get to have lunch with those aliens. If there’s any inside. If we’re gone, then I guess this ship will automatically return to Earth as usual. Our efforts won’t be in vain, I guess.

I’ve grown very fond of Makoto. I mean, he’s my friend. But like, hardships made us closer, y’know? I don’t know if we’re gonna come back alive. I don’t care. I’m gonna do this. Makoto’s gonna do this. We’re all doing this. HQ, get as many data as you can. You’re gonna need it. Try to make sense of it too ‘cause I’m sure it’s not gonna make a lot of sense.

As an unofficial representative of the USCSS Samezuka, I’d like to announce that we’re leaving our post and facing with the pyramid head-on.

Fortune favors the brave. I’m sure we’re pretty brave to be favored.

Bu who cares about fortune anyway?

Mom & Gou, I love both of you so much. Take care of each other. When you look upon the stars, think of me and everyone on this ship that perished. We will live on, as memories.

And that’s fine by me.

 

With a beating heart and a courageous soul,

Matsuoka Rin, signing off.

 

— _USCSS SAMEZUKA SUCCESSFULLY RETURNED TO EARTH ON JUNE 14th, 2175._

_NO TRACES OF MATSUOKA, R. AND TACHIBANA, M. AND THE REST OF THE CREW._

_THE DATA GATHERED BY THE CREW IS CURRENTLY BEING HEAVILY STUDIED AND ANALYSED BY US AT THE PHOENIX CORP.  —_


End file.
